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It is not death that
we
should fear, but we
should fear never
beginning to live.
Marcus Aurelius
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life 2 - life
3 - life 4
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A tree has
both straight and crooked branches; the symmetry of the tree,
however,
is perfect. Life is balanced like a tree. When you
consider
the struggles, difficulties, and sorrows as a part of it,
then you see it as beautiful and perfect.
George
M. Lamsa
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If
you have known how
to compose your life,
you have done a
great
deal more
than the
person who knows how
to compose a
book.
You have done more
than
the one who has
taken
cities and empires.
Michel de Montaigne
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Affirmation
of life is the spiritual act by which people cease
to live
unreflectively and begin to devote themselves to
their lives with reverence in order to raise
them to their
true value. To
affirm life is to deepen, to make more inward, and to
exalt the will-to-live. |
Albert
Schweitzer |
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| Richard
Jeffries
O
beautiful human life! Tears come to my eyes as I think of
it. So beautiful,
so inexpressibly beautiful! The song
should never be silent, the dance never still,
the laugh
should sound like water which runs forever. |
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It
matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.
William Ernest Henley |
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Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the
boredom
and pain of it no less than in the excitement and
gladness: touch, taste, smell your way
to the holy and
hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all
moments
are key moments, and life itself is grace.
Frederick Buechner |
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No
one imagines that a symphony is supposed to improve in
quality as it goes along,
or that the whole object of
playing it is to reach the finale.
The point of music is
discovered in every moment of playing and listening to it.
It is the same, I feel, with the greater part of our
lives,
and if we are unduly absorbed in improving them
we
may forget altogether to live them.
Alan Watts |
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| Three
versions of a similar passage: there's a passage on
success that's usually attributed to Emerson, but that very
probably is a misattribution. Unfortunately, over the
years the various versions have changed, and it's pretty hard
to tell where these ideas came from originally. We won't
attempt to answer the question of source definitively--we'll
just give you the three versions as they're written. |
| To
laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent
people and the affection of children; to earn the
appreciation of honest criticism and endure the betrayal
of false friends; to appreciate beauty and find the best
in others; to leave this world a bit better whether by a
healthy child, a garden patch, a redeemed social
condition; to know even one life has breathed easier
because you have lived--this is to have succeeded.
Ralph
Waldo Emerson |
| Success
They
have achieved success
who have lived well,
laughed often, and loved much;
who have enjoyed the trust of
pure men and women,
the respect of intelligent people and
the love of little children;
who have filled their niche and accomplished their tasks;
who have left the world better than they found it
whether by an improved poppy,
a perfect poem or a rescued soul;
who have never lacked appreciation of Earth's beauty
or failed to express it;
who have always looked for the best in others and
given them the best they had;
whose lives were an inspiration;
whose memory a benediction.
--Bessie Anderson Stanley, 1904
("Success"
was written as the winning entry in a contest run by Brown
Book Magazine in 1904. Bessie won a cash prize of $250 which
paid off the mortgage on the house, among other things. It was
included in Bartlett's Book of Quotations for decades, and if
you can find an old edition from the 30's or 40's, it should
be in there. They dropped it, I think in the 60's, but I don't
know why.
The family isn't sure how the poem got mangled and attributed
to Emerson, but it was further confused by Ann Landers and her
sister Abby. Ann Landers used to (mis)quote it all the time
and cite Emerson as the source. My great-uncle Art, a retired
federal judge who died last March, and she had a decade-long
correspondence as he argued for a public correction. She
finally conceded and in her book, The Ann Landers
Encyclopedia, prints the whole story.
~~Bethanne
Larson, a granddaughter of Bessie Stanley)
Thanks to robinsweb.com for this info. |
That Person is a Success
Who has lived well,
laughed often and loved much;
Who has gained the respect of intelligent people
and the love of children;
Who has filled his or her niche
and accomplished his or her task;
Who leaves the world better than he or she found it,
whether by improved poppy, a perfect poem,
or a rescued soul;
Who never lacked appreciation of earth's beauty
or failed to express it.
Who looked for the best in others
and gave the best he or she had.
Robert Louis Stevenson |
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Helen Keller |
Life is either a daring
adventure or nothing
To keep our faces toward change and
behave
like free spirits in the presence
of fate is
strength undefeatable. |
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God asks
no person whether he or she will accept life.
That is not the
choice.
You must take it.
The only choice is
how.
Henry Ward Beecher |
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Life is difficult. This is a great
truth,
one of the greatest truths. It is
a great truth
because once we truly
see this truth, we transcend it. Once
we truly know that life is difficult--once
we truly
understand and accept it--then life is
no longer
difficult. Because once
it is accepted, the fact that
life is
difficult no longer matters.
M. Scott Peck |
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Time is a
flowing river.
Happy those who allow themselves
to be
carried, unresisting, with the current.
They float
through easy days.
They live, unquestioning, in the
moment.
Christopher Morley |
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There are loyal hearts, there are
spirits brave,
There are souls that are pure and true;
Then give to the world the best you have,
And the best will come back to you.
Madeleine Bridges |
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Life
is beautiful to whomsoever will think beautiful thoughts.
There are no common people but they who think
commonly and without imagination or beauty.
Such
are dull enough. |
Stanton
Davis Kirkham |
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If our lives shall be such
that
we shall receive the glad welcome of
"Well done, good and faithful servant,"
we shall then know that
we have not lived in vain.
Peter Cooper |
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| Robert
A. Ward
I
wish you humor and a twinkle in the eye.
I wish you glory and the strength to bear its burdens.
I wish you sunshine on your path and storms to season
your journey.
I wish you peace--in the world in which you live and in
the smallest corner
of the heart where truth is kept.
I wish you faith--to help define your living and your
life.
More I cannot wish you--except perhaps love--to make all
the rest worthwhile. |
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It is
only in exceptional moods that we realize how wonderful
are
the commonest experiences of life. It seems to
me sometimes that
these experiences have an "inner"
side, as well as the outer side
we normally perceive.
At such moments one suddenly sees everything
with
new eyes; one feels on the brink of some great revelation.
It is as if
we caught a glimpse of some incredibly
beautiful world
that lies silently about us all the time.
J.W.N.
Sullivan |
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fragments
what shall i tell a child if she asks me what is life?
will i recount the pain and hurt and focus on the strife?
or shall i paint a picture of the beauty that is found
in sailing ships and chocolate chips and bugs beneath the
ground?
i'd like to think i'd give her hope of all that is to
come
but if she reads some poems of mine, her hope shall be
undone
i cannot bear to think that i may dim a child's eyes
present to her a world of just confusion, pain, and lies
for if i am to tell her early on of mountain streams
and help her build the pillars that will hold up all her
dreams
i'd paint the birds that fill the trees with beauty and
with song
a sanctuary in her mind to help when thing go wrong
and in that place in her mind's eye the flowers would
grow free
in meadows under blue skies by the mighty loving sea
she's have a place for comfort, have a place to be alone
amidst tomorrow's challenges, no matter how she's grown
i pray to learn my lessons from the children whom i meet
i dream of sowing sunshine on a crowded city street
i pray my words shall never hurt the child here inside
i pray that never shall i fear the child in me has died
i must reject some words of mine if i'm to feel i'm free
embracing hope, i must hold on to how good life can be
that i may treat the children with respect that they
deserve
for i shan't live for self alone--i give my life to serve
tdw |
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Don't let
life discourage you; everyone who got
where they are had to
begin where they were. |
Richard L.
Evans |
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To live is like to
love--all reason is against it,
and all healthy instinct
is for it.
Samuel Butler |
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You don't
get to choose how you're going to die, or when.
You can only
decide how you're going to live. Now!
Joan Baez
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Here
is the test to find whether
your mission on earth is
finished:
If you're alive, it isn't.
Richard
Bach |
Life is
a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you
can.
Danny
Kaye |
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I would like to
live. . . open to time and death painlessly,
noticing everything,
remembering nothing,
choosing the given with a fierce and pointed
will.
Annie
Dillard
How
we spend our days is, of course,
how we spend our lives. |
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Life
is always walking up to us and saying,
"Come on in, the living's
fine," and what do we do?
Back off and take its picture.
Russell Baker |
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I
believe the art of living consists not so much in
complicating simple things
as in simplifying things that are not.
François
Hertel |
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Life
is a song--sing it.
Life is a game--play it.
Life is a challenge--meet it.
Life is a dream--realize it.
Life is a sacrifice--offer it.
Life is love--enjoy it.
Sai
Baba |
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Live all you can;
it's a mistake not to.
It doesn't so much matter what you do in
particular,
so long as you have your life.
If you haven't had
that, what have you had?
Henry James |
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There
are no classes in life for beginners;
right away you are always asked to deal with what is most difficult.
Rainer
Maria Rilke |
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Life
is brimming with things to be discovered and known,
skills to be mastered, challenges to be overcome.
And when
you are discouraged, dig a hole in the earth and think of the
possibilities.
So many things can be planted in your lifetime,
skills that once mastered will bear fruit forever. . . . Pluck
up some enthusiasm for the business of life, for the loamy
matter that supports us all.
Become a handyman and spread
your skills wide, digging deeper into the earth’s crust
to uncover its secrets.
Christopher Kimball |
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